Locks



Nov. 12, 1968 R. p. THORPE 3,410,600

LOCKS Filed Sept. 29, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 REG/NAL D P THORPE 11v VENTOR.

R. P. THORPE Nov. 12, 1968 LOCKS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2' Filed Sept. 29, 1966 REGINALD THOR/ E INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS 3,410,600 LOCKS Reginald P. Thorpe, Rainham, Essex, England, assignor to Ford Motor Company, Dearborn, Mich, a corporation of Delaware Filed Sept. 29, 1966, Ser. No. 583,035 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Feb. 1, 1966, 4,351/ 66 3 Claims. (Cl. 296-66) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A latch mechanism for the backrest of a station wagon utility seat comprising a latch device and a manually movable detent member for holding the latch device in latched position. The detent member upon being moved to a disengaged position is held by a resilient catch until such time as the latch device is disengaged from a striker holding the backrest in locked upright position. Upon disengagement of the latch device from the striker, the latch mechanism resets itself to again become functional to hold the latch device in latched position relative to the striker.

This invention relates to latch mechanisms which have particular utility in station wagons and to station wagons in which such latch mechanisms are fitted.

In station wagons the backrest of the utility seat is movable from an upright normal position to a lowered position to increase the load carrying area in the car. For safety reasons the backrest should be locked in the upright normal position so that it is not flung forward in the event of a crash. If a usual latch mechanism is fitted at each side of the vehicle, then an occupant of a car may fail to see that the latches are engaged. If a conventional spring controlled latch mechanism is used, for example, like a door latch mechanism at each side of the car then both latch mechanisms have to be held in the release position as the backrest is lowered. This owing to the width of the car is difficult.

The latch mechanism according to this invention is described generally in subparagraph (a) to (d) as follows:

(a) The latch mechanism is adapted to be mounted on one of two relatively movable parts and to cooperate with a striker on the other of the two parts.

(b) The latch mechanism includes:

(1) a latch device movable by the striker between a latched position and a released position;

(2) a detent member spring biased towards an engagement position and movable manually against the bias into a disengagement position; and

(3) an automatic catch operative to retain the detent member in its disengagement position against the spring bias.

(c) The detent member when in its engagement position and when the latch device is in its latching position engages the latch device to prevent it being moved into its released position.

(d) The detent member when retained by the automatic catch permits the latch device to move into its released position.

Preferably the latch device, as it is moved from the latching position to the released position, engages the detent member to release it from the automatic catch.

Further features of the invention are described in the appended claims.

The invention is hereinafter particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of the interior of a station wagon; and

nited States Patent FIGS. 2 to 7 are sections through a latch mechanism and showing the latch mechanism in five different positions.

The station wagon (FIG. 1) has sides 1, a floor 3, rear Wheel arches or housings 5, and a rear seat. The backrest 7 only of the rear seat is shown, and it is movable from the upright position into a horizontal position to extend the load carrying area in the rear of the vehicle.

The backrest 7 is retained in its upright position by a pair of latch mechanisms, generally designated 9, which are fixed one to each wheel arch 5 and which cooperates with strikers 13 fixed to the backrest 7.

The two latch mechanisms 9 are identical. Each latch mechanism 9 includes: a latch device 15 movable by the striker 13 between the latching position shown in FIG. 1 and a release position (FIG. 5); a detent member 17 biased by a spring 19 towards an engagement position shown in FIG. 1 and movable manually against the bias into a disengagement position shown in FIG. 3; and an automatic catch 21 operative to retain the latch member 17 in its disengagement position against the spring bias. The detent member 17 when it is in its engagement position (FIG. 2) and the latch device 15 is in its locking position (FIG. 2) engages the latch device 15 to prevent it being moved into its release position. The detent member 17 when retained by the automatic catch 21 (FIG. 3) permits the striker 13 to move the latch device 15 into its release position (FIG. 5)

The latch device 15 and detent member 17 of each latch mechanism 9 are pivotally mounted about parallel horizontal axes between the walls of a housing 23. The housing 23 is of inverted U-shape, and the free ends of the side walls are turned outwardly to form flanges which are secured by screws to the wheel arches 5. Each latch device 15 has a U-shaped jaw 25, a first abutment surface 27, a second abutment surface 29, and a third abutment surface 31. Each detent member 17 has a latch device abutment surface 33 and a projection 35. The spring 19 is a mousetrap type spring wound around the axis of the detent member 17 and having one end secured to the housing 23 and the other end engaging the detent member. The automatic catch 21 is a leaf spring fixed to the upper wall of the housing 23 and having a projection 37. The detent member 17 has a handle which projects rearwardly through an aperture 41 in the housing 23. A rubber pad 42 is fixed to the front of the housing and is engaged by the backrest 7 when it is in its upright position.

FIG. 2 shows the position of the latch mechanisms when they are holding the backrest 7 in an upright position. The striker 13 is located within the jaws 25 of the latch device 15, and the latter is prevented from rocking anti-clockwise by the abutment surface 33 on the detent member engaging the first abutment surface 27 on the latch device 15. The detent member 17 is biased into the position shown by the spring 19.

When it is desired to move the backrest 7 from its upright position, the handles 39 of each latch are forced downwardly in the direction of the arrow as shown in FIG. 3. This rocks each detent member 17 clockwise, and a lug 43 on the detent member moves from one side to the opposite side of the projection 37 on the automatic catch leaf spring 21. The catch then holds the detent members 17 in the position shown in FIG. 3 in which each abutment surface 33 is clear of the first abutment surface 27; and the third latch device abutment surface 31 on the latch device 15 engages the projection 35 on the detent member.

When the backrest 7 is moved forwardly as shown in FIG. 4, the striker 13 rocks the latch device 15 anticlockwise. This movement of the latch device results in two things: (1) the striker 13 is able to move out of the jaws 25 of the latch device; and (2) the latch device 15, by virtue of the engagement between the surface 31 and projection 35, rocks the detent member 17 anti-clockwise until the lug 43 clears the projection 37 on the automatic catch. Thus movement of the catch automatically resets each latch device. In this position the detent members 17 engage the second abutment surfaces 29 on the latch devices 15, and, by virtue of the springs 19, tend to hold the latch devices in partially released or reset positions.

If, however, the detent members 17 should be moved by mistake into their disengagement positions as shown in FIG. 6, then the projections 35 on the detent members enter shallow notches 45 on the latch devices 15 and thereby prevent the latch devices from being moved from their release positions.

When the backrest 7 is moved back into its upright position the strikers 13 enter the jaws of the latch devices 15 and rock them clockwise. As the second abutment surfaces 29 engage the detent members 17, the latter are rocked clockwise until the latch members clear the second abutment surfaces 29 on the lock members. The detent members then rock anti-clockwise under the action of the springs 19 until the abutment surfaces 33 on the detent members engage the first abutment surfaces 27 on the latch devices to hold the latter in the locking position as shown in FIG. 2. If the detent members 17 are in the positions shown in FIG. 6, then clockwise rocking of the latch devices causes anti-clockwise of the detent members 19 as a result of the engagement of the notches 45 by the projections until the lugs 41 clear the projections 37.

In the locking position of the detent members 17 shown in FIG. 2, movement of the backrest 7 to the left could in theory result in the detent member 17 being rocked anti-clockwise since the reaction between the first abutment surface 27 and the surface 33 passes to the left of the pivotal axis of the detent member 17. The force required to do this is so large that, for practical purposes, the detent members 17 may be regarded as latching the lock members positively. However a real positive latch may be achieved by arranging for the reaction between the first abutment surface 27 and surface 33 to pass to the right of the pivotal axis of the latch member 17 as shown in FIG. 2 by arrow R.

If the latch devices 15 should move from their release positions when the detent members are by mistake moved towards their disengagement positions as shown in FIG. 6, then the reaction R in FIG. 6 between the projection 35 and the notch is such as to rock the lock member anti-clockwise back into its release position.

The latch members described automatically lock the backrest 7 in its upright position when the backrest 7 is returned to its upright position. In addition when a detent member 17 is moved to its disengagement position it remains there by virtue of the automatic catch 21, and this means that both detent members 17 do not have to be simultaneously released and hold released whilst the backrest 7 is lowered. Moreover, the detent members are automatically returned to their engagement positions when the backrest 7 is lowered,

BENJAMIN HERSH,

It will be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the exact construction shown and described, but that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a vehicle body,

a seat backrest structure mounted on a vehicle body structure for swinging movement;

a latch mechanism mounted on one of said structures and adapted to cooperate with a strike on the other of said structures;

said latch mechanism comprising a housing,

a plannar latch device pivotally mounted in said housing and movable upon engagement with the striker between a latched position and a released position.

a planar detent member pivotally mounted within said housing for swinging movement in a substantially common plane with said latch device,

spring means biasing said detent member toward said latch device to place a first part of said detent member in latch device holding position;

lever means on said detent member for manually moving the latter against the bias toward a latch device disengaged position,

and resilient catch means mounted on a wall of said housing and engageable by a portion of the detent member to retain the latter in its disengaged position against the spring means bias,

said detent member when in latched device holding position preventing movement of the latch device to released position from latched position;

said detent member when retained in disengaged positioned by said catch means permitting movement of said latch device into its release position.

2. -In a vehicle body according to claim 1, in which:

the latch device, upon movement from latched position toward released position as the one structure is moved relative to the other structure, has a first part thereof engageable with a second part of the detent member to rock the latter over the catch means into a position in which said spring means is effective to bias the detent member toward latch device holding position.

3. In a vehicle body according to claim 2, in which:

the detent member after having been rocked over the catch means is biased by the spring means to position its first part in engagement with a second part of the latch device to hold the latter in a reset position for re-engagement with the striker.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,987,344 6/ 1961 Hershey 296-66 3,083,560 4/1963 Scott 292Zl6 X 3,262,725 7/ 1966 Ballantyne 297379 X Primary Examiner.

J. A. PEKAR, Assistgn; Examiner, 

